26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

**xsoulbrothax** · 03-20-2007, 03:40 PM

I'm just waiting for the second post to get filled in, too. Then the pics and such might be there!

Many thanks for going through all this effort.. when you made that comment a few weeks ago about the voltage dropoff with the FN121, I was thinking of PMing you to ask if there was any sort of log of fan performance you had been keeping.

I'm guessing the 'BT Stock Fan' is the BT VX rpm-adjustable one? The Silverstone 121 actually seems pretty decent for a TTBT..

**Altered** · 03-20-2007, 04:20 PM

Is there a 120 Vantec Tornado ? If there is that would be interesting to see. I just have the 92 version. I really like the amount of air it moves but a tad loud if ya crank it up. Great info though.

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Kurz

Shouldn't the last graph of the Adjusted DB be 1M instead of 12cm?
I see a few graphs like that.

Just a small error.

Or is it supposed to be like that.

Yeah, that's one of the three (or four, I forget) title errors I have from the VM crash and missed when I posted it

Originally Posted by Spawne32

vapor i love you man, so it looks like the noctua fans fell right out of the box at the beginning after all, so looks like ill be picking up 4 sharkoon golfball 2000's

Yeah, they seem like very good fans....my only worry is that if you want really quiet (which it can do), the minimum required startup voltage may interfere with 'flawless' operation. I personally don't like the white blades much either....that's just opinion though

Originally Posted by dinos22

hahahah yeah i've got the 190CFM hehehe....crazy airflow

Vapor great effort

i have a fan fetish too....love it

WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PICS OF FANS THOUGH

See the 2nd post with nothing in it? I lost the whole damn thing

It'll be there eventually though

Originally Posted by xsoulbrothax

I'm just waiting for the second post to get filled in, too. Then the pics and such might be there!

Many thanks for going through all this effort.. when you made that comment a few weeks ago about the voltage dropoff with the FN121, I was thinking of PMing you to ask if there was any sort of log of fan performance you had been keeping.

I'm guessing the 'BT Stock Fan' is the BT VX rpm-adjustable one? The Silverstone 121 actually seems pretty decent for a TTBT..

Please, please do not confused the FM121 and the FN121. The FM121 is white, claims 110CFM (IIRC), and is really just an overrated and underperforming fan. The FM122 (it's 32mm thick brother with larger hub at 50% power usage) is even worse....singly most annoying sounding fan of ALL the fans.

The FM121 does not scale linearly with voltage....hence the data points that are VERY spread out.

The FN121 is black and is rated for ~45CFM and 26.6dB, these are actually very accurate and it's a great performing fan, typically beating the Yate Loon SL.

EDIT: missed the TTBTvx thing....I have two different Thermaltake Big Typhoon fans. One from a standard TTBT and one from a TTBTvx. The VX fan goes much faster and doesn't scale linearly with voltage. The regular TTBT fan is actually a damn good competitor to the Yate.

**Altered** · 03-20-2007, 04:46 PM

The FM122 (it's 32mm thick brother with larger hub at 50% power usage) is even worse....singly most annoying sounding fan of ALL the fans.

I don't have one but could you have got a lemon ?

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Altered

I don't have one but could you have got a lemon ?

Very possible....it wasn't particularly loud though....just made a vacuum-like noise that was very grating. Power draw was also very high....yet RPM wasn't any higher than the FM121's....and the hub is much too big as well....even if it were a lemon and the noise in other ones weren't as annoying, it still is a middling (at best) fan.

In regards to the 120mm Vantec Tornado....Vantec just rebrands Deltas for their Tornado line....so there are many to choose from. www.sidewindercomputers.com has a good selection.

**dinos22** · 03-20-2007, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by Vapor

See the 2nd post with nothing in it? I lost the whole damn thing

It'll be there eventually though

.

me i hate when that happens.....i keep doing CRTL+A CTRL+C now every time i have a longer writeup as it happened too many times before

**serialk11r** · 03-20-2007, 05:11 PM

IanY was right about the Pabst fans. And people were like "your pabsts suck" LOL. Now he can shove THIS in their face lol.
Hmmm... The sharkoon LED fans look like crap when they're not spinning but when they're spinning you can't see the golfball thingys, so looks like I'll have to get some, very impressive fans...
Oh Vapor, would you happen to be getting a Enermax Enlobal thingy anytime? Someone told me the motor doesn't make any noise, nor is there bearing noise, so that might be the ultimate quiet fan

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 05:20 PM

serialk11r, the "Marathon" fan?

I'll see what I can get for the next batch

**Spawne32** · 03-20-2007, 05:48 PM

personally i love the white blades myself vapor, but whats the minimum startup voltage because my controller only goes down to 7v

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 05:51 PM

The one I have here is ~5.3V, but each fan is different. 7V should not be an issue though

**jt710** · 03-20-2007, 05:53 PM

vapor this is incredible, thanks alot. Extremely informative. IMO Adding 5 or so popular fans would make this the web's definitive resource for computer fan performance, if not so already!

**Spawne32** · 03-20-2007, 05:54 PM

is this thing stickied yet? lol

**seferio** · 03-20-2007, 06:09 PM

Another fan that would be cool to see would be the Scythe Minebea and S-Flex fans.

Nice roundup tho. :P

**IanY** · 03-20-2007, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by serialk11r

IanY was right about the Pabst fans. And people were like "your pabsts suck" LOL. Now he can shove THIS in their face lol.
Hmmm... The sharkoon LED fans look like crap when they're not spinning but when they're spinning you can't see the golfball thingys, so looks like I'll have to get some, very impressive fans...
Oh Vapor, would you happen to be getting a Enermax Enlobal thingy anytime? Someone told me the motor doesn't make any noise, nor is there bearing noise, so that might be the ultimate quiet fan

The whole forum has been laughing at me.. I have been a consistent user of EBM 4412FGML and have had to perpetually defend myself against ridicule from a whole liquid cooling forum. I have never said any particular fan sux, except that I have said that the quality of Yate Loons are suspect. Anyway,it doesn't matter. I'll go on using my EBM Papsts.

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 06:20 PM

The ebmpapst fan is an old school design but it works very well. I like it.

Yate Loons probably do have quality problems...people who buy them in batches report that more than anything and they know best

**IanY** · 03-20-2007, 06:45 PM

All it does is just show my age.. old school design lol

**Plywood99** · 03-20-2007, 06:48 PM

Awesome write-up Vapor.

I remember reading on Procooling years ago that Pabst was the fan to beat. Good to see them still holding up well. Panaflo m1a looks like a good fan if I'm reading the graphs right...

ply

**Vapor** · 03-20-2007, 06:54 PM

I think you're mixing up the M1A with the Papst (nearly the same color, different dot-shape though)....the M1A is the highest CFM in the mid-speed fans, but it's otherwise a mid-pack fan.

**Plywood99** · 03-20-2007, 06:57 PM

Ahh, thanks for the correction Vapor. Need to look a little closer...

ply

**ranker** · 03-20-2007, 07:28 PM

Could you include the Scythe S-Flex F fans in the next round up Vapor? I'm curious to see how these stack up against the rest of the field.

So right now what would be the "best" fan to use with my Thermochill PA120.3 and my MCR-220 radiators? I'm not sure how to define "best" by looking at the graphs alone.

**Sparky** · 03-20-2007, 07:36 PM

Very nice writeup Vapor, been looking forward to this.

If you are going to test some more fans a little bit later, PM me if you want me to pay for that coolermaster fan that I requested be tested

**serialk11r** · 03-20-2007, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Vapor

The ebmpapst fan is an old school design but it works very well. I like it.

Yate Loons probably do have quality problems...people who buy them in batches report that more than anything and they know best

A purchase of 6 had 1 with messed up bearing (the plastic part hits the metal and makes scratchy noises) other than that, I'm pleased

**afireinside** · 03-20-2007, 08:20 PM

Yeah out of my 5 yates one of them is noticeably louder bearing wise and it pisses me off. But then again you can get almost 5 yates for the price of one papst...

**Navig** · 03-20-2007, 08:47 PM

Just wanted to say great job! Much thanks!

Saw it mentioned, if you could at some point add the venerable Sanyo Denki, that'd be great.

Compensating for something? Naw...

**xlink** · 03-20-2007, 10:03 PM

very good dude.

so it looks like the yate is best for open air then...

Thread: 26 120mm Fans Tested and Compared

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